The Long Road
by Tiramisu1994
Summary: When SHIELD found out about Bruce Banner's traveling companion, they were angry. When Naruto found Bruce, she was relieved.
1. Chapter 1

Okay, so I've been reading a ton of Avengers crossovers lately. The most common is definitely Harry Potter ones, and as much as I love Harry Potter fanfiction, Naruto fanfiction is where I started. So, here it is!

* * *

**Calcutta, India**

**March 16,2012**

Naruto Uzumaki hated Calcutta. It was dirty and packed full of people that didn't know how to look where they were going.

She felt dirty.

Not for the first time, she cursed her traveling companion for dragging her to this dirty city. Of course, he wasn't there for her to curse in person. She hardly saw him during the day, he was almost always off helping someone sick or injured.

She couldn't blame him for that. The city definitely need someone to take care of their people. She on the other hand didn't have the knack for heeling people, but she was a fantastic carpenter though, and was often helping patch up houses and the like. It didn't pay well, but like her companion, she didn't feel right taking money from these already suffering people.

So when she worked for the upper class in their beautiful homes, she usually charged double or triple, because her work was worth it. The money went back into her supplies for repairs and to feed and clothe Bruce and herself.

Naruto sighed thinking of Bruce, and nearly ran into someone in her lack of attention , "Sorry," She hurriedly murmured in Hindi to the red-headed woman before continuing on her way.

She'd met Bruce and forced herself into his life nearly three years ago. He'd been the Other Guy when she first saw him, and it reminded herself so much of the first time she'd lost control over the Kyuubi's power.

She'd cleaned him up and taken him to her hotel room, where he'd woken understandably confused.

He tried to give her the slip several times after that, but it never worked. It may have been a long time since she'd had a legitimate reason to use her skills as a shinobi, but that didn't mean she'd let them rust.

So when he had settled in the middle of the forest late that night, she'd simply came from her hiding place and settled herself in with him.

It had taken about ten more days, and he finally gave up on trying to give her the slip.

Of course, he had started up again after his next incident, but she kept following. She could tell he needed someone in his life, and to be one hundred percent honest, she didn't really feel like being alone again either.

Thus, they traveled, country to country, staying until Bruce was no longer comfortable, or Naruto had some brush with the law with her rather loud mouth. Until they came to Calcutta. It had been close to six months they'd been there now.

She couldn't wait to leave, but Bruce was happy here.

Naruto sighed and looked at the obnoxious orange watch on her wrist (Bruce always called it obnoxious, she loved it).

Seeing how late it was, Naruto took off through the busy streets, dodging through alleys, and narrowly avoiding crazed drivers on scooters to reach the small apartment Bruce was taking care of two sick kids in.

She paused at the bottom of the stairs, seeing a third child at the top of the stairs, begging for help for her father. So Naruto stepped to the side, and waited for Bruce to descend the stairs before falling into step next to him.

"How are the children holding up?"

Bruce sighed and ran a hand through his hair as they followed the little girl, "Not great. But I think they'll make it through now," He looked sadly at the girl before whispering to Naruto, "I'm not so sure her father will make it. The kids got help early enough." He shrugged, a little disheartened.

She patted his shoulder before noting where the little girl was leading them, "Outskirts of town, kid's lucky," She drawled looking around, not noticing anything too suspicious.

Bruce rushed forward to stop the little girl from running into the path of the large truck, and turned his face away so they couldn't take note of his identity.

He sent Naruto a look, he'd heard something. So she called out loudly to him, "Think I'll stay out here, don't want to be in the way."

Nodding very slightly to the left, Bruce turned and followed the girl into the house.

Naruto slipped away into the trees, not too far from the house before cloaking herself in an illusion and slipping back into the house.

Bruce was leaned up against the door frame, looking out of the window that the little girl had just slipped from, "Should have gotten paid up front Banner," He mutters to himself.

"You know," Bruce turns around to see a very beautiful red-headed woman speaking, a red shawl wrapped around her shoulders. "For someone trying to avoid stress, you certainly picked the right place to settle."

"Avoiding stress isn't the secret," He replies, his eyes darting around the room, looking for some place to escape or for some sign from Naruto.

"What is it then? Yoga?"

A bubble of laughter escapes him in his moment of panic.

"You brought me to the edge of the city," He observes, "Smart. I'm assuming I'm surrounded?"

"Just you and me," The woman replied, but Bruce knew it was a lie. He'd heard the soldiers outside, and he knew Naruto was around somewhere. He just wished he knew if she was inside or out.

He wanders over to one of the windows to peer out of it, "And your little actress buddy, she a spy too? Do they start them that young?" That was a silly question, but he was stalling for every moment of time he could get trying to spot Naruto.

"I did," her voice was flat in reply, whoops, didn't mean to piss her off.

"And who are you?"

"Natasha Romanoff." She says it with such certainty, like he should know exactly who she is. He sighs.

"Are you here to kill me Ms. Romanoff? Because that's not going to work out. For anyone." He smiles, it's blatantly fake, but she either doesn't care or doesn't realize. His bet is on the former.

"No, of course not," She replies, almost as if she thinks he's buying her shocked tone, "I'm with SHIELD"

"SHIELD huh," He murmurs and shifts the weight on his feet back and forth. "How'd you find me?"

He can't help thinking Naruto was right, Calcutta was the wrong choice.

"We never lost you Doctor, we merely kept our distance, even helped keep some interested parties off your scent."

Great, so he is officially an animal.

"Why?"

"Nick Fury seems to trust you. But now we need you to come in."

"And what if I say no?"

Romanoff smiles, he knows it's a fake. Her next sentence comes out in a sultry tone, and he can almost feel Naruto growl in fury.

"I'll persuade you."

Bruce nods, but he can hear the threat behind the words. It makes his heart rate jump a few paces.

"And uh, what if the Other Guy says no?"

She begins to walk towards a table located in the main room, "You've been nearly a year without an incident Doctor, I don't think you want to break that streak," She says it so confidently, so assured, that he's almost tempted to prove her wrong. Damn Naruto's wild side for rubbing off on him.

"But I don't always get what I want," He whispers, almost to himself, as he plays with a rickety cradle-swing in the middle of the main room.

"Doctor, we're facing a global catastrophe," She says, ignoring him and pulling out a cell phone.

He laughs, "Now those I actively try to avoid."

"This is the tesseract," she says, no room for non-sense in her voice. She places the phone on the table and sits in the lone chair placed at it, taking what could almost pass for a relaxed position. Bruce knew better. He'd seen Naruto take nearly that exact posture on more than one account.

He played along, taking his reading glasses from his coat pocket and sliding them onto his face. He picks up the phone and examines the photo pulled up.

"What does Fury want me to do with it? Swallow it?"

Natasha leans forward, and speaks to him in that tone of voice like he's a complete idiot. Naruto had it down better. "He wants you to find it. It's been taken, it emits a gamma radiation signature that is too weak for us to trace. There's no one that knows gamma radiation like you," She paused and leaned back into her chair, "If there was, that's where I'd be."

"So Fury doesn't want…" He trails off, looking at Natasha for any signs of deceit. Should've paid closer attention to the little girl, he may not have been in this ridiculous situation otherwise.

"Not that he's told me, no." Natasha replies, knowing what he's asking without him saying.

"And he tells you everything?" Bruce asked, skeptical.

Something cold and hard flashes through Natasha's eyes, "Ask him yourself." She spits.

"So no one's going to put me in a cage?" His tone his mocking, he knows that's not true.

"No one's going-"

He interrupts and slams his hands hard onto the table. It stings for a second, but it brings him back into focus, and he can see Naruto finally. She's a shadow on the wall right behind Natasha.

"Stop lying to me!"

In a second several things happen. Natasha is standing with a gun, he's learned not to question where women manage to pull the weapons from, and that gun is pointed right at his heart.

Naruto is right up against Natasha, one of her strange blades in each hand, one is held closely against Natasha's throat, and the other is very lightly pressed against her back, in a position that if she shoved it forward, it would plunge right into her heart.

The surprise on Natasha's face would be one of Bruce's favorite memories in the weeks to come.

Bruce raised his hands, "Sorry, that was mean," There's a laugh resting on his lips, "I just wanted to see what you would do. You can let her go now dear, I don't think she'll be trying that again."

Naruto seemed to growl low in her throat and shook her head, her eyes flickered to the gun still in Natasha's hands, her fingers on the trigger.

"Okay, let's do this the easy way," Bruce murmurs. "Where you put that away, and the Other Guy doesn't make a mess, okay?"

Natasha glares but she very slowly lowers the gun, because Naruto still has her blades held threateningly against her skin. When the gun is finally set on the table, Naruto removes the blade from her throat, "Call them off," she hisses.

The red-head turns her head to cast a furious glare at the blue-eyed shinobi before pressing her hand to her ear.

"Stand down. We're good here."

Naruto steps away and Bruce laughs, "Just you and me here."

Natasha sends a glance at him from the corner of her eyes and it just breathes fury.

Naruto, the child she is on the inside, stuck her tongue out at the SHIELD agent before turning to Bruce.

"We're leaving Calcutta?" Her voice was so hopefully.

"Bruce is, you're not."

Naruto just shot her a warning look as did Bruce, "She comes with me."

"Like hell she does. She's not part of the initiative."

"Call Fury. He can have nothing, or plus one. I think he'll take the plus one," Bruce replied. "I'm not leaving her behind after three years, besides, would you rather have her as an authorized extra person, or one that managed to sneak into wherever we're going?"

Naruto grinned broadly, revealing unnaturally sharp canines. It made Natasha uncomfortable. "Fine," She finally ground out. "Fury's going to be pissed."

"That you were snuck up on?" Naruto added in helpfully before winding one of her arms around Bruce's. "Because I think he's going to be more upset about that than anything if he's a good commander."


	2. Chapter 2

**Somewhere over Asia**  
**March 14th, 2012**

"Fury's not happy." Natasha growled looking at the unwanted tag-along that was coming with Banner.

Bruce shrugged, "He will be when he sees what she can do."

Natasha looked skeptical, Naruto after all looked and acted like a twenty year old sometimes. "Somehow I doubt it."

Naruto just smiled, and Bruce knew that look. Natasha was in for hell on Earth when this was all over. "I think I'll surprise you. I did get the drop on you after all; you could be dead right now."

The former Russian spy snorted, "I'm sure. I don't think you could have gone through with it." Natasha's pride was hurt. She wasn't going to let some young moron that thought they were hot shit get away with it.

"Sweetheart," Naruto's voice was cold, and Natasha saw Bruce wince, "I've killed more people in my lifetime than you could ever hope to match."

The ice in those blue eyes made Natasha shiver. There was no doubt. She turned away, to shake off her discomfort at those blank eyes.

An hour or so passed before Natasha sat back down across from the two, who were at that moment quietly discussing the files she had given to Banner.

"I need to know some things about you, or the moment you step foot on our ship, you will be taken to an interrogation chamber and not be allowed to leave until you've answered a much more in depth list of questions than the ones I'm about to ask you."

Naruto cocked her head to the side, "Depends on the questions. But ok."

Natasha almost breathed a sigh of relief, easier than she thought it would be.

"Name?"

"Several," she smiled, "But you can call me Naruto Uzumaki."

Natasha almost glared. "Birth date?"

"October tenth."

"Year?"

Naruto remained silent, so Natasha moved on. "Where did you receive your training?"

She expected silence on this one too, and had been prepared to move onto the next question when Naruto answered.

"Specialized academy. I can't tell you the country. Closest would be Japan," She paused in thought, "Started at six years old, graduated at twelve."

Natasha noted it, it was more than she had originally given when asked by SHIELD.

"Special skills?"

Naruto laughed, "The only one you need to know about right now is assassination and stealth, anything else can be dealt with when the time comes."

The red-head scowled, but moved on. "Family?"

"Dead."

The plane began to descend at that moment.

"Well it looks like we've arrived. Stay with an agent or Doctor Banner at all times Ms. Uzumaki."

Naruto nodded and looked at Bruce, he looked nervous as hell. She squeezed his arm comfortingly.

Natasha exited the plane first, moving to greet another agent and a rather handsome man who was looking around the ship in some confusion.

The agent with Natasha ran off into the tower of the ship, and the red-headed agent lead the other man over to Bruce and Naruto.

Once he caught sight of Bruce he strode right past Natasha and extended his hand first to Bruce, and then to Naruto.

"Doctor Banner, I've heard a lot about you. It's a pleasure to meet you. Word is you can find the cube?"

Bruce looked over the man, "They told me you'd be here, and is that the word on the ship? Is that the only word on the ship?" He looked at Naruto with a grimace. "It's the only word I care about," The captain replied.

The blonde woman was looking at him with a small level of confusion, "My apologies ma'am. Captain Steve Rogers," He greeted with a smile.

She returned the smile, "Naruto Uzumaki. Pleasure."

"Are you with S.H.I.E.L.D. as well?"

She let out a hearty laugh, "No, I travel with Bruce," She looped an arm through one of Bruce's. "I got to come along because there was no way for Natasha to stop me."

Natasha took that moment to step forward, "We may want to get inside it's going to get a little hard to breathe in a moment."

"Is this a submarine?" Steve asked in amazement, looking over the flight deck in confusion.

Bruce scowled, "Really? They want to put _me_ in a submerged, pressurized, metal container?"

The three new comers walked to the edge of the ship, staring in amazement at the rotating blades rising up slowly from the water and lifting the ship into the air.

* * *

**Inside the Hellicarrier Command Center**

Steve was staring. The amount of computers and technology in the room was mind boggling.

Director Fury, situated nearly in the center of the room, was standing at a strange post. As a number of agents around him began reading off numbers Fury almost grinned. "Let's vanish."

More announcements from the agents below, and finally Fury stepped down from his post and walked towards Rogers, who was on his own after Naruto and Bruce had slid off to the side.

Without saying a word to Fury as he came up, Steve pulled a ten dollar bill from his pocket and handed it to Fury, who took it with a smile on his face before moving to Banner.

"Doctor, thank you for coming," He said, holding out a hand.

Bruce shook it wearily, "Thanks for asking nicely," The sarcasm slipped through his tired voice. "How long will I-"

A cough from Naruto interrupted him and he corrected himself. "How long will we be here?"

Fury looked at the petite blonde standing close to Bruce. "Until you find the tesseract, and she'll be here until we find a little more about her."

A dangerous grin spread across Naruto's face, revealing the sharp canines to the director, "Careful there Director, you don't want to make promises you can't keep."

"How exactly am I supposed to find the tesseract?" Bruce asked before Naruto could cause anymore trouble.

Not too far from them, the agent that had originally arrived with Steve answered the question. "We are sweeping every mobile accessible device for traces of activity."

From her place at a computer Natasha replied, "Even then, we may not find them soon enough."

At that point, Bruce shifted into his scientist mode, and Naruto stepped over to Rogers, at least he was on her tech level.

After listing off the items that he would need Bruce removed his coat and rolled up his sleeves. "Do you have somewhere that I can work on all of this?"

Fury nodded, "Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory please?"

Natasha nodded and waved Bruce to follow her, Naruto followed quickly after. She just needed to know where he'd be working. She wouldn't stay. It was no place for her.

"You'll love it doc, it's got all the toys."

After showing Bruce to the lab, Naruto and Natasha returned to the main area of the hellicarrier and Naruto resumed her place next to Steve Rogers.

"So how did you meet Dr. Banner?" He asked. The woman couldn't be much older than twenty, and from the file he'd read, SHIELD actually had no record of the woman traveling with Banner.

"Ah," She scratched the back of her head in an awkward gesture. "Funny story actually, I was down in South America and saw him at the tail end of one of his transformations."

"And you still decided to travel with him?"

"Well yea," Naruto looked at Steve with those expressive blue eyes, and he could see the irritation in her them. "He's not the only one who's burdened with something they don't like and didn't want. And even if he was, no one deserves to be alone."

Steve nodded, "I just think it's unusual that someone as young as you would travel like that."

Naruto laughed, "I'm quite a bit older than I look Captain. Besides, I'm persistent. I can't tell you the number of times Bruce tried to give me the slip. But I always found him," She winked at him. "There's no one I can't find if I set my mind to it."

Steve nodded, and moved to speak again when a shout came up from the group of agents. "I've got a 63% match!"

Fury moved towards the agent, "Wait, cross analysis says 79% sir! We've got a match on one of our targets!"

Fury turned to Steve, "You're up Cap."

He nodded and turned to say good-bye to his fellow blonde, but saw her quickly moving down the hallway towards the laboratory that Bruce was in. He shrugged and left to suit up.

She found Bruce and that agent that had been originally with the Captain alone in the lab.

Naruto came up quickly behind Bruce and tapped him lightly on the shoulder so that he whirled around. He hated it when she snuck up on him, but sometimes she really couldn't help it.

"They've found their target, I'm going with them to apprehend them," she whispered, trying to make it so the agent in the room couldn't hear her.

Bruce nodded, "Okay, be careful."

The blonde smiled at him, "You know better."

He sighed, "Yea, I do."

Naruto stood on her tip toes and pressed a quick kiss to Bruce's lips, before running out with a smile on her face.

"I wasn't aware the two of you were together. You hide it well." The agent, Coulson, said.

Bruce shrugged. "My idea, she doesn't like it. But the less people know, the less they can use it against me."

Coulson nodded, and Bruce got back to programming his search.

When Naruto appeared on the enclosed flight deck in a tight black body suit with some sort of weird, bone white armor covering her chest, and matching bracers on her legs and bare arms, Steve was surprised.

When she pulled a painted porcelain mask off her hip and slid it onto her face, Steve was amazed.

"You're not coming too, are you?"

Natasha's voice was resigned as she looked at the blonde. The only reply was nod, until she slid the mask up her face.

"I'm a little rusty, could use a fight, that isn't against Bruce or the Other Guy for once."

Disbelief shone on their faces, but Naruto just laughed. "Well come on! Let's get going!"

They were headed to Stuttgart, Germany. Even on the incredibly fast jet, it was going to take them about an hour to get there from their current position.

"What kind of material is your chest plate?" Steve voiced, not long after takeoff.

Naruto hummed, "It is demon bone. It is stronger than ninety percent of metals here on Earth."

Steve and Natasha stared at her. "Demon bone?"

Naruto smiled at Natasha, "There are other realms. Sometimes items from those realms get left behind. I'll just say that this armor is very old and well taken care of. Let's leave it at that, shall we?"

The red headed agent shifted uncomfortably. Steve was still staring.

"So, Cap," Naruto waved her hand in front of his face, trying to distract him, it worked. His concentration broken, he glanced up at his fellow blonde. "How are you adjusting to all of this?"

Steve shrugged. "Fine, I don't have much of a choice. It's hard knowing everyone I used to know is dead, or very old," He paused, "But I'm doing it."

Naruto nodded in understanding, and the weird thing for Steve was that he felt like she really did. With the revelation about her armor, it made him uncomfortable.

They sat in silence for a while, and when Naruto turned to look out one of the glass panels on the jet, Steve caught sight of the black swirl inked onto her arm. It was strange.

"I'm worried I'll regret this question," He started off slowly. "But what does the tattoo on your arm mean?"

Blue eyes snapped over to Steve, and then down to her arm. "Oh," It was soft. "I meant to wrap that up. Oh well," she sighed, "It's representative of my rank back where I came from, I was ANBU commander."

"ANBU?" Steve said it carefully, the word unfamiliar on his tongue.

"Highest level of soldier next to the leader of our villages. I was in charge of the entire force. We only took the most dangerous level of missions, considered suicide missions by essentially every level. We also did the important reconnaissance. Specialty was assassination, stealth, and information gathering."

Naruto could see Natasha listening in on the conversation. This was the kind of stuff she needed to report on.

"Information gathering?"

"As I said, reconnaissance, but sometimes other methods. If we captured an enemy for example," she trailed off. She knew Rodgers would understand what she was saying.

He looked away. It reminded him of saving Bucky from his time with HYDRA.

"We're nearly there. Prepare for departure."

Naruto and Steve stood from their seats. There was a feed from where Loki was terrorizing a crowd of people. Lecturing them on how they should be respecting him, and kneeling before him.

When he looked over, he saw a sadness in Naruto's eyes, directed at Loki. He was about to ask what was going on when he saw the old man stand before Loki. He knew what would happen. So he jumped, targeting himself to land in front of the man, just in time to stop the beam from Loki's scepter.

Naruto followed the Captain out of the plane, using chakra to soften her landing, she watched Steve and Loki exchange words, Loki laughing.

The jet descended into view, and Natasha's voice rang out over the P.A. system, "Loki, put down the scepter."

Loki let out a maniacal laugh and shot a beam of energy at the jet, which swerved to the side to avoid it.

The captain took that moment to launch his attack, throwing his shield towards Loki, only for it to be deflected back into a statue. He leaped into hand attack, throwing punches and kicks at the Asgardian, while ducking from swipes at the spear.

Loki eventually got a good hit on him and pressed his spear into the top of Steve's head, "Kneel," He hissed.

Before the captain could move the spear, Naruto appeared, her face covered by the porcelain mask, to rip the spear away. Her fist smashed into Loki's face sending him flying back into one of the many statues in the courtyard.

Loki fought his way back up, and at that moment a loud blast of music came over the P.A. system in the jet. A beam of energy shot into the freshly stood Loki, and a metal suit landed before the Captain and Naruto.

It's head turned to look at the armored shinobi and a confused voice rang out, "Hello, who are you?" It had the tone of a rhetorical question. Naruto didn't bother to answer, so the robot turned back to Loki.

"Well hello Reindeer Games," It said, a plethora of weapons rising from the suit aiming directly at Loki. The Asgardian raised his hands in surrender, his golden armor fading away from his person in a sort of smoke.

"Good move," the robot commented.

Steve stepped up next to it, "Mr. Stark."

"Captain. Creepy Masked Person." He answered, because Naruto was now sure it was definitely a person inside of a suit.

Naruto stepped forward to take a closer look at Loki, before removing a pair of handcuffs from the pouch on her backside. They didn't look like much, but were engraved with a special sealing array that would give away her identity to Loki the instant they were placed on him.

She could see the amusement in his eyes as she walked forward with the cuffs, average human handcuffs would never stop Loki, so when she slapped them onto his wrists and the smile fell off his face as his magic was repressed, both Steve and the man in the metal suit knew something was off.

"Naruto." Loki's voice was surprised and Steve glared at the other blonde, who pulled the mask from her face causing a mildly surprised sound to emerge from the suit. When she looked up the mask on the suit was raised so she could see the man inside.

"You know each other?" Steve's voice was cold as he gripped Naruto's arm.

"We do," She answered curtly, "And the only reason he knew who I was is because of the specially reinforced hand cuffs I just put on him so that he can't currently use his magic. So you're welcome Captain."

He scowled, "Get on the jet, we'll deal with this when we get back to base."

Naruto rolled her eyes, but complied, following Loki who continued to throw glances back at her.

Once on board Natasha checked in with Fury, alerting him to the fact that Naruto and Loki apparently knew one another.

The blonde sat sullenly across from the Asgardian, listening to the conversation between Natasha and Fury. She was so looking forward to sitting in a cell once they got back to the helicarrier.

Steve was staring at her with disappointment clearly written across his face.

Tony, she had learned his name once on board, kept looking at her as well and finally she snapped. "What Stark?"

"How did you even get on the ship with S.H.I.E.L.D. if you are teamed up with this guy? That just seems like a major security breech to me."

"Yes Naruto," Loki finally spoke, in that drawling tone of his, "How ever did you get on with them when clearly you're sided with me, just because I happened to know who you were."

While none of the others detected it, she could sense the tone of petulance in his voice. "Stop it Loki. It's been decades since you were last here on Midgard," she snapped. Surprise colored the faces of both Steve and Tony at that.

She moved to continue when a harsh thunderstorm rose up, "What is this? Where did this come from?" Natasha asked confused. Loki seemed to tense up, and hunched forward. Naruto just let out a moan of annoyance.

"What, afraid of a little lightning?" Steve snapped. He was irritated with the banter Stark had been throwing at him.

Loki looked at Naruto and then over at the two Avengers. "I'm not overly fond of what follows it, no."

At that moment something struck the top of the jet, and Tony replaced his helmet while Steve pulled his cap over just as Tony opened the hatch.

"What are you doing!?" Steve yelled.

A long haired blonde landed at the base of the hatch in that second. Tony raised an arm to fire a beam of energy at him, but the man knocked him back with his hammer before turning to look at Loki, completely ignoring the blonde woman sitting across from him.

He took the black haired Asgardian by the neck, twirled his hammer and flew from the jet.

"And now there's that guy," Tony sighed.

"It's another Asgardian," Natasha supplied.

"Is he a friendly?" Steve shouted.

"Doesn't matter, if he takes or kills Loki, the tesseract is lost." As Tony moved to exit the plane Naruto waved. "That's Thor. Loki's brother. Be careful," It was the only information she offered up before Tony flew out of the plane, with Steve following close behind.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for the reviews guys! I've actually got all of this story written except for the last two chapters. So I'll update pretty frequently until those two are written. I'm halfway done with one, and know where I'm planning on going with it. Sort of. Anyways, on with the chapter!**

* * *

Thor threw Loki down to the ground, "Where is the tesseract?"

"So many reunions in one day, it's so good to see you brother," Loki quipped from his place on the ground. His hands still handcuffed in front of him.

Thor moved to snap them off only to stop in surprise.

"She's seen you? Had contact with you even?"

"Mmm," Loki murmured, "You missed her on the ship. Opposite side of the cause unfortunately. How much energy did Father have to spend to send you here, to your oh so precious Earth?"

Thor dropped Mjolnir to cup the side of Loki's face. "I thought you dead brother."

"Did you mourn?"

"We all did, our Father-"

"Your father," Loki interrupted. "He told you of my true heritage did he not?"

"We were raised together. We played together. We fought together." Thor exclaimed, "Do you remember none of that!?"

"I am in your shadow brother. Living in the shade of your greatness. I remember you tossing me into an abyss. I was, and should be king!" He hissed.

"So you'll take the world I love as recompenses for your imagined slights!? No, the Earth is under my protection Loki!"

The trickster god laughed at that, "And you're doing a marvelous job with that. The humans slaughter each other in droves. I need to rule them!"

"You think yourself above them?" Thor asked, his tone somber. "All of them? Even the Lady Naruto?"

Loki glared and shoved past his brother, "I have seen the true power of the tesseract brother. I've sent it off somewhere not even I know, and you need it to take me back to Asgard."

Thor summoned Mjolnir to him and moved towards Loki, "Brother-"

Tony Stark slammed into him in that instant and threw him away from Loki, into the dirt. Once he had recovered and pulled himself up Tony's mask lifted to reveal his face.

"Do not touch me again," Thor warned.

"Then don't take my stuff," Tony quipped back.

"You have no idea what you're dealing with."

"Uh, Shakespeare in the park? Doth Mother know, you weareth her drapes?"

"This is beyond you, metal man," Thor said, glaring at Tony. "Loki will face Asgardian justice."

"If he gives up the cube he's all yours. Until then, stay out of the way." His mask came back down and he turned, presumably to recollect Loki.

A fight between the two broke out when Thor threw his hammer after Tony, and they crashed through the park and trees until Steve broke it up by throwing his shield into the midst.

"Hey! That's enough. We have two prisoners to take back to S.H.I.E.L.D.!"

Tony looked confused for a second, his mask raising once more, "Hold on a second. Hot stuff back on the jet is considered a prisoner?"

Thor let out a heavy breath, trying to let the anger go. "What prisoner other than my brother do you have?"

Steve stared at Thor for a moment, "She wasn't a prisoner before we captured Loki. She's more a suspicious person. You'll meet her when we get back on the jet."

Thor nodded and they returned to the hillside to collect Loki where he waited patiently.

"Really reindeer games, no attempt at an escape makes you awful suspicious."

Loki merely glanced at Tony, "I need to speak with your other 'prisoner'" he sneered.

"You'll have to get in line pal," Steve growled, as the jet lowered towards them. "I have a few questions of my own, and I'm sure Director Fury will have some as well."

When they boarded Steve seated himself next to Naruto, who had remained quiet since they'd left the jet. Thor stopped at the end of the hatch, surprise coloring his features.

"Lady Naruto, you are their other prisoner?" He turned to Tony and Steve, "You realize you have the one who is stopping Loki from a very easy escape as your prisoner?"

Steve glared his face stony. "Yes, she didn't tell us of her relationship with Loki. There seems to be a lot of things she's hiding from us." He was thinking back to the decades comment. There was no way she was any older than twenty.

Naruto for her part simply rolled her eyes. "You're not the only ones," she quipped, "Bruce knows about 90% of it," she grinned, "Of course thanks to you, that last ten percent gets to be revealed. Hooray," she drawled sarcastically.

Loki stared, "Bruce?" He spat the name as if it hurt him to say it.

"Decades Loki dear. Decades." She spat back.

Thor watched the two fight back and forth before attempting to step in, "Lady Naruto, when you put it in perspective, it's really not all that long is it?"

The blonde shot him a withering stare, "I am still human Thor, despite what you Asgardians like to believe."

"What do you mean by that?" Steve asked, startled.

Naruto refused to answer though, and instead crossed her arms over her strange armor, revealing she was no longer handcuffed, and leaning back into her seat.

"If you want an explanation it's going to have to wait until my debriefing with Director Fury, Captain Rogers," Her voice seemed almost defeated, and it was a long, mostly silent return to the hellicarrier.

* * *

**Two hours Before**  
**Bruce's Lab**

"Dr. Banner!" There was an angry shout coming down the hallway, and Bruce turned around to see Fury storming into the laboratory.

"Yes Director?" His voice was exasperated.

"Your companion. Naruto. You need to tell me everything you know about her, right now."

Bruce just stared at him, as if he'd grown a second head, "May I ask why Director? I don't have the tendency of blowing everyone's personal business over the front page."

"I've been informed by Agent Romanoff that Ms. Uzumaki joined herself and Captain Rogers on the mission to Stuttgart. Where she encountered Loki, who revealed he knew exactly who she was, and seemed to be incredibly familiar with her." Fury's face was contorted into one of pure rage, these things didn't happen under his command. They weren't supposed to.

"She's been taken into SHIELD custody until we figure out just what the hell is going on. So everything you know, we need to know. Now."

Bruce stared, surprised, and then the hurt hit. "Fine. What do you need to know?"

A smile a victory spread across Fury's face as he began to interrogate Bruce.

* * *

When they landed on the hellicarrier, a small troop of guards surrounded Loki and lead him forward, a second group surrounded Naruto. They were both lead straight past the lab that Bruce was working in, and as Loki caught sight of him through one of the windows he froze. A look akin to jealous rage spread across his features.

As Bruce stared none of the guards could get Loki to move forward, until he took a step towards Bruce, and Naruto appeared. That hurt him. She didn't even look at him, but instead barreled into Loki, shoving him forward.

Bruce saw a look of genuine pain spread across Loki's features, and he continued walking forward, Naruto paused and looked up at Bruce, an incredibly sad look on her face. Before he could look away he saw her mouth 'I'm sorry' towards him. The physicist shook his head, trying to shake his guilt off, and when he looked back he saw the broken look on her face as the guards pushed her forward.

Loki was locked into a thick glass cage when he finally reached the end of his escort. The door locked, a hiss of air.

"In case it's unclear," the Director stated, "If you try to escape, if you so much as scratch that glass." He was fiddling at a computer. Suddenly, the floor beneath the glass cage opened to reveal the drop down.

"30,000 Feet straight down in a steel trap," Fury boasted, looking at Loki for the first time. "You get how that works?"

He closed the floor back up and gestured at Loki, "Ant," he motioned to the computer, "Boot."

Loki laughed. "It's an impressive cage, not built, I think, for me." He thought back to the man, he sneered inwardly, Bruce.

"Built for something a lot stronger than you," Fury replied.

"Oh, I've heard," Loki drawled.

"From who, your inside source? Uzumaki?" Fury spat.

Loki ignored him, and looked straight into the camera in his cell. "A mindless beast."

In the room where the Avengers were listening in, Bruce straightened. Uncomfortable he rubbed his eyes.

"Makes play he's still a man," Loki went on, his voice soft, "How desperate are you? You call on such lost creatures to defend you."

"How desperate am I?" Fury answered, "You steal a powerful force, one you can't hope to control. You talk about peace, and you kill for fun. You have made me very desperate." He stated, stepping towards the cage. "You might not be glad that you did."

"Ooh," Loki crooned, "It burns you to have come so close. To have the tesseract, to have power." Loki shifted himself inside of the cage, "Unlimited power, and for what?" A grin spread across his face, "To be reminded what real power is?"

The look on Fury's face was hard, stormy. Then his lip twitched into a smirk, he turned, walking away from the cage. "Let me know if real power wants a magazine or something."

And he left the room.

* * *

**With the Avengers**

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Bruce asked sarcastically. He was still hurt by Naruto's betrayal.

"Loki's going to drag this out," Steve said, "Thor, what's his play?"

The Asgardian was looking more serious than he had ever seemed before.

"He has an army, called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard, or any world known." He turned towards the table. "He means to lead them against your people, and they will win him the Earth, in return, I suspect, for the tesseract."

"An army," Steve repeated, "From outer space."

"So he's building another portal?" Bruce added, taking the glasses from his face. "That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."

"Selvig?" Thor asked.

"He's an astro physicist."

"He's a friend."

"Loki has him under some kind of spell," Natasha spoke up, "Along with one of ours." She shifted uncomfortably at that.

"I want to know why Loki let us take him, he's not leading an army from here." Steve observed.

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki," Bruce interrupted, "That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell the crazy on him."

"Have a care how you speak," Thor growled, "Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he is my brother."

"He killed 80 people in two days," Natasha supplied.

Sheepish Thor answered, "He's adopted."

"I think it's about the mechanics. The iridium that they took from Stuttgart, what do they need the iridium for?" Bruce asked.

"It's a stabilizing agent." Tony Stark answered as he strolled into the room followed by Agent Coulson. "It means that his portal won't collapse on him like it did at SHIELD."

He stepped up to Thor and slapped his arm, "No hard feelings Point Break, you've got a strong swing." He continued past, "Also, it means it can stay open as wide, and as long as Loki wants."

As Tony continued the explanation Bruce jumped in, adding his theories in as well.

"Finally!" Tony exclaimed, "Someone who speaks English." He reached out to shake his hand while the Captain muttered, "Is that what just happened?"

"Dr. Banner, I'm a huge fan of your work, your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalled. I'm also a huge fan of how you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

Bruce stared at Tony before smirking, "Thanks?"

Fury chose that instant to enter the room.

Following behind him was Naruto.

* * *

**Unknown Interrogation Room**  
**One Hour Earlier**

Naruto was leaning back in her chair at the interrogation table. Her handcuffs were resting on the table, they always had made her uncomfortable.

She was ready to run. Ready to escape. She didn't think she could face Bruce again. Not after his reaction to seeing her. Naruto let the chair fall back onto all four legs and dropped her head onto the table with a groan.

"Naruto Uzumaki. ANBU agent from the Elemental Country of Fire, Village of the Leaf. Age somewhere between eight and nine thousand years old. Container of the most powerful monster the world has ever seen."

Naruto lifted her head to stare at Fury. She'd heard him enter and hadn't paid him any mind.

"How?"

"Doctor Banner told us. When he learned you were working with Loki, he was willing to share the information."

Cold betrayal flashed through the blonde's eyes, and to Fury, it was rather telling.

"What do you want from me if Bru-" She paused, took a deep breath, "If Banner has told you everything about me?"

Fury leaned forward, "I need to know your relationship with Loki. Thor tells me that those handcuffs that we took off him were specially designed by you to suppress Loki's magic."

Naruto laughed, "You idiots took the cuffs off? And Loki is still here? You really are stupider than I thought Director."

Fury scowled. "Answer the question."

"I'm his wife."


	4. Chapter 4

**AN:/ Ok, so I've read some of the reviews, scratch that, I've read all of them. And I know I've really rushed the story a bit. I'm sorry about that. I had the muse take me that day and I just started pounding the story out. It actually started off as a really long one-shot. With that said, I will probably go back and clean up some of these chapters, make Naruto a little more wary and stuff like that.**

**The reason why I did it the way I did has a little to do with the age I've set her at, which I'm pretty sure I tell you in this story. I don't know. It's been a few weeks since I started writing this, and it's been a bit since I actually read this particular chapter. So. Here you go.**

* * *

**Interrogation Room**

"I'm his wife."

"His _wife_!?" Fury exclaimed, "If you're his wife, what the hell are you doing with Dr. Banner?"

Naruto snorted. "I'm not sure what I was doing with Dr. Banner anymore Director, but I hadn't seen my dear husband for nearly a century, I may not be totally human anymore, but the urges and personality are still there. I was fucking lonely," She hissed. "When I met Bruce, losing control and spiraling in fear, he reminded me of my best friend. Reminded me of myself when I was first learning to control the Kyuubi."

"The Kyuubi. What is that?"

"Look at ancient Japanese folk lore. It's about as close to it as it gets. My home country used to be where Japan connected to the main land, but the area was destroyed. You could consider my society like Atlantis," She paused to think, "That would actually make a good amount of sense. We were very technologically advanced compared to the rest of the world. Until they started gathering the eight like myself. Then everything fell apart."

Fury looked at her.

"You're off topic. What is the Kyuubi?"

Naruto laughed, "Bruce always said I needed to be on medication for my wandering mind. The Kyuubi is the most powerful demon currently in existence. My armor," She tapped her chest plate, "Is made from one of his teeth. He was the nine-tailed fox. A sweep of his tails could raise mountains, cause earthquakes and tsunamis. He was a living natural disaster Director."

"And you contain it?"

Naruto smirked, "I am it now. Kurama and myself merged long ago. Back when my home was destroyed. I needed the power to protect my loved ones, and it cost me all of them," She spat bitterly, "I saved them, only to lose them later because I was fucking immortal."

Fury crossed his hands on the table. "How did you meet Loki?"

"I was here when he first came to Earth, back when the Vikings were still prominent. He and Thor had come to Earth, and power like that isn't something I would miss. Especially in that time period." She sighed wistfully, "Thor was much like myself, but Loki reminded me very much of an old friend. He came to visit, alone, several times. We became friends, and when I visited Asgard, we married. I was already several thousand years old at the time."

"After that, he came less frequently to Earth. I couldn't stay on Asgard, I'm still human after all, no matter how immortal I am," She laughed, "It's quite the contradiction, I know."

Fury stared. "Your powers. What are they. What can you do with them?"

Naruto held her right hand up, and a ball of blue, twisting and swirling, screaming energy appeared. "This was a technique my father developed, it's called the _Rasengan_." She let the energy fade away, "My energy as you call it, is chakra. Not in the sense that you people know it. Chakra is the mixing of physical and spiritual energies, we can use as much as our body can mix, but eventually we run out. Or we used to. I'm the only one left, and I don't run out."

"My people were trained at early ages, varying depending on the families, to control our energies. Everyone had chakra, but you didn't have to become a soldier. You could live your life how you wanted. But being a shinobi is an honor. Dying young to protect your village was a privilege," Naruto sighed and leaned back in her chair, staring Fury directly in the eye. Her blue eyes spoke of eons of knowledge, of weariness.

"The usual progression was to graduate from the academy at age twelve and be put into a team of three with a Jounin teacher. Our ranks went Genin, a fresh academy graduate, Chunin, team leaders and academy teachers, to Jounin. Jounin were elite, they protected the village and taught the younger generation. They were the face of the village."

"What about you, you told Rogers that you were an ANBU."

Naruto nodded her head, "ANBU were the elite of the elite, but not all of us were Jounin, some were Chunin that were simply too lazy to go through the process of becoming a Jounin, but certainly had the potential, or had skills we wanted. We were the assassins, the infiltrators, and the torturers," Naruto took a deep breath. "ANBU were also organized in teams, with the ANBU commander in charge of every team. There was only one rank higher than that, and that was our Hokage. The Hokage leads the village, politically and militarily. I was being trained for the position."

Once again Fury was staring at her. "What happened?"

Naruto shrugged. "War. The Fourth Great Shinobi War killed everyone. Genetic testing ran rampant, crime sky rocketed. We couldn't keep up. The jinchuruki, that's what I and the people like me are called, were rounded up. They tore the beasts out of each and every one of us, except for myself and B. We were the strongest jinchuruki, we had a bond with our bijuu, our demons. The others died. B killed himself after the war. He released his bijuu, and it destroyed the countries. I let it."

Naruto seemed to collapse in on herself.

"If you agree to work with us. Fight against Loki. I'll let you out. The Avengers are strong, but they could use your help."

She shook in her seat, "I can't," she whispered, Fury stood. "You will."

Naruto growled. "I would like to speak with him."

"Loki?"

"Yes."

Fury contemplated it. "I'll take you there then."

* * *

**Loki's Cell**

Fury led the way in.

"I don't believe I asked for any magazines yet," Loki called mockingly to him from his place seated on the floor.

"I'm no magazine," Naruto growled stepping out from behind Fury. He stepped back towards the door, standing just inside.

"No, dearest wife, you certainly are no magazine," Loki drawled in that soothing tone of his.

The blonde rolled her eyes, but Loki could see the defeat in them, how broken she looked. He stood and stepped towards the glass.

"Why are you here Lok?" Her voice was soft, it was pained, "Why after so many years, have you come to Earth, and not even tried to seek me?"

Her pet name made him wince, his eyes shifted over to Fury at the door.

"I was in Asgard, trying to keep Thor off the throne when I fell," He whispered to her, "Thor broke the Bifrost, and he let me fall-"

"Lok." Naruto interrupted, her eyes flat, "Thor loves you, he would never _let_ you fall. Do not lie to _me_ husband."

Loki starred. It really had been too long since he'd seen her. He forgot how she could read through the lies. "I fell into the abyss. I floated for ages, until I finally landed. It was nowhere the Bifrost could reach. It was past even Heimdall's sight." He frowned. "I came to lead Earth into a new era my dear; I could use your power to further the cause."

Naruto took a step back, watching the pain that crossed Loki's face. "You've been gone for eighty two years Loki. To you, that's a blink in your life span, but to me it is eighty two years. Above that, you forget my dear, that I am human, and that I protect the people of this earth with everything I can," She hissed her final words, "If I must protect this earth from you, my husband, I will do just that."

She turned to Fury. "I am ready to leave now."

Fury nodded, and opened the door for her. She looked over her shoulder at Loki, disappointment radiating in her eyes. Then she was out the door with Fury right behind her.

He then took the lead and she followed him down the hall, to a space above the bay of computers where all the Avengers were seated, discussing Loki and his motives.

She could hear Tony Stark's voice as they came down the hall.

"Dr. Banner, I'm a huge fan of your work, your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalled. I'm also a huge fan of how you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

Bruce's mumbled "Thanks" was overshadowed by Fury's entering declaration. "Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you would join him."

Steve, whose back was turned away from Fury started, "Maybe you could start with that stick of his. I don't know what it does, but it looks an awful lot like a Hydra weapon."

He spun around in his chair and was surprised to see Naruto walking free. His jaw dropped. As did Tony's when he spotted her. Bruce just nodded and turned to speak to Fury when he saw Naruto.

A glare settled onto his face, but Naruto didn't even acknowledge him. She made a bee-line straight for Thor, who gave a wide smile when he saw her. "Lady Naruto, a pleasure to see you no longer locked up."

Naruto didn't answer and Thor's grin dropped a little when he saw her state. He opened his arms and she walked directly into them, hugging Thor as if she was going to fall apart.

"Thor," her voice cracked, and it was so different from anything the other Avengers had heard from the blonde they were shocked into silence. "Loki, he is not well. He's not himself Thor!"

Thor glared at Fury then, "What did you do to her?"

The director scowled, "She asked to see Loki, I took her to him. She's going to helping with the initiative from now on."

"You took her to see her husband whilst he is locked in your ridiculous cage?" Thor snarled, "Are you insane?"

Bruce froze and stared at Naruto then. He knew that she was several millennia old, but he didn't realize she was married too.

Naruto's face remained buried in Thor's chest, as she whispered something to him, he immediately calmed himself, but swept her up and with a fierce look at the director "We will continue this later," he stated before quickly leaving the room.

Tony and Bruce exchanged quick looks, "Well, shall we go play Doctor?"

Bruce nodded, slightly shaken at the whole event, but followed Tony out of the room.

* * *

**Training Facility**

Thor placed Naruto gently back onto her feet before letting her go. "Sister," Thor spoke softly, or as softly as he could, "What do you mean that Loki is not the same?"

Naruto sniffed for a moment and observed her surroundings. "Someone is controlling him Thor," she looked out the glass side of the facility, it looked directly into the laboratory that Bruce and Tony were working in. "Lok," She paused and took a deep breath to calm herself, "Lok would never willingly let someone control him Thor. Something is terribly wrong with him."

Thor nodded slowly, "It has been many years since you've seen him sister."

"Not my fault," She muttered angrily. "You're right, but I know him Thor. Better than anyone, he is being controlled."

She glanced around the room again, it was quite empty for a training facility.

"Brother," Her voice was stronger, and it made Thor smile, "I would like to let off some of my anger, would you be a willing partner?"

The Asgardian nodded, a wide grin spreading across his face, "It has been many a year since we last fought sister. Do your worst."

Thor had to fight down a shiver at the malevolent grin that spread across Naruto's face. Her youthful appearance sometimes made him forget just how ancient and skilled she was.

Nearly quicker than Thor could react, Naruto was on him, a fist flying towards his face, followed by a swift kick towards his side that he just barely avoided.

He was on the defensive from a rapid series of punch, kicks, and tackles before suddenly Naruto backed up and with a mischievous grin threw something at him. Seeing the round object flying rapidly at him through the air, Thor only had a moment to notice the electric blue color before it exploded, sending bright blue paint all over him.

Stunned, he stood for a moment before speaking, "I always forget, God of Mischief, he would never marry anyone who was not at least his equal in these games." The flat look on Thor's face sent Naruto into a peel of laughter, so uncontained and loud that it drew the attention of the two scientists in the lab opposite.

Seeing Thor covered head to toe in bright blue paint made Tony laugh too, Bruce just stared at Naruto on the ground, laughing as he had never seen her before.

"Th-Thor!" Naruto gasped out, "Now you really are electric!" She collapsed into another fit of laughter, and the God of Thunder simply walked over and picked her up from the floor, wrapping her in a tight hug, smearing paint all over her.

The laughing continued from Naruto, and doubled when Fury walked by and froze at the sight of his facility and two Avengers. A hand came up and pinched the bridge of his nose, before he continued on his way.

Naruto and Thor stumbled out of the training room and into the lab across the hall to hear Tony offering a spot at his tower to Bruce.

"Thanks, but the last time I was in New York, I sort of broke Harlem," He trailed off as he got a better look at the laughing blondes covered in paint.

"That isn't that paint that takes two weeks to wash off is it Naruto?" He asked with a sigh.

The laughter stopped almost immediately and cold blue eyes turned to Bruce making him flinch. "It is Dr. Banner. But with my counter agent it washes right out."

Stark took that moment to shock Bruce with his screwdriver, cause a yelp of pain.

Roger's arrived at that moment. "Hey! Are you nuts?"

Tony looked back over him, "Could be, jury is still out," He turned to Bruce, "You really have got a lid on it. What's your secret?" He went on to list several things while Bruce kept his face down so as not to meet Naruto's eyes.

He didn't want to see the accusation.

"Is everything a joke to you!?" Steve snapped at Tony.

"Funny enough."

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny," He ground out. "No offense Doctor." Then he caught sight of Thor and Naruto.

"What happened to you two?"

"Paint bomb," Naruto supplied quickly. "Shower will wash it right out. Come on brother." She looped an arm through Thor's and led him towards the showers.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN:/ Ok, so I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed this story. It really means a lot to me, I know this isn't always the most stellar of writing on my end, (I like to think of myself as an idea generator, not so much an executor) so for everyone who has kept with the story, thank you! It means a lot. If anyone reading this would like to write a storyline of similar plot, i.e. Naruto being with one of the Avengers, living for a long time, and being married to Loki. I would love to see it written better.**

**With that said, here's the next installment!**

* * *

"Oh no, you brought the monster." Loki sneered to Romanoff's turned back.

He saw her straighten and turn with a smile on her face, "So that's your play. Banner. Thank you." She turned away from him, there was a look of shock on his face, as Natasha spoke rapidly into her communicator.

Naruto melted out of the shadows then, she'd made one of her more difficult clones when Fury had originally let her go. They were hard to slip into place, but she wasn't a shinobi for nothing. So while the clone left and played a part, Naruto remained, observing Loki.

She had watched him and Natasha banter back and forth, she could see what Natasha was doing, though Loki in his addled state fell for it.

So when she left the room, she made her appearance, and stepped up to the glass of Loki's cell. She tapped it, "Thick glass," she murmured.

Loki spun around, "What are you doing back here?"

"Never left actually," She drawled. He crossed the cage with three long steps. "I knew you would stand by me." His lips quirked into a smile, "My dearest Naruto."

"No Loki."

* * *

"What are you doing Stark? You're supposed to be locating the tesseract." Fury snarled as he stormed into the room, they'd detected a virus on the computers.

"We are. The model's locked and we're sifting for a signature now. When we get a hit we'll have the location for you within half a mile." Bruce said.

"And you'll get your cube back, no muss, no fuss," Tony added before becoming distracted by the beeping on a screen in front of him. "What is phase two?" He asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Phase two is SHIELD uses the tesseract to build weapons," Steve supplied, clunking down a rather large weapon on one of the work tables. "Sorry," He directed at Tony, "Computer was moving a little slow for me."

"Rogers, we collected everything related to the tesseract," Fury began, "This does not mean-"

"I'm sorry Nick," Tony interrupted pulling up a diagram on his screen, "What were you lying?"

"I was wrong director; the world hasn't changed a bit." Steve's voice was flat in his disappointment.

"Did you know about this?" Bruce asked as Natasha entered the room.

"Do you want to remove yourself from the situation doctor?" She said, ignoring his question.

He laughed, irritated. Everything that was piling up on him. "I was in Calcutta, I was pretty far removed."

"Loki's manipulating you."

"And you've been doing what exactly?" He asked flippantly.

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you."

Bruce moved on to the screen Tony had pulled up, "I would like to know why SHIELD is building weapons of mass destruction."

Fury sighed, "Because of him." He pointed towards Thor.

"Me?" He asked, taken aback.

"Last year earth had a visitor from another planet. Who had a grudge match that _leveled_ a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, we are hopelessly, hilariously outgunned."

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet," Thor replied hotly, "And you are not outgunned. Now that you are aware of her, Naruto is the strongest deterrent you could have for many a realm."

The other Avengers in the room looked at him in surprise at that. Even Bruce.

"You people truly know nothing about her?" Thor stared at Fury. "You interrogated her, how are you not aware?"

"I don't have anything to measure her to!"

"That is because she is the measure!" Thor shouted, "She is older and more powerful than the All-Father! She is your greatest hope!"

"Excuse me Point Break, are you trying to tell me, that the same woman who pelted you with a paint bomb, it the most powerful person on this planet?"

"She can and has taken down the Hulk before," Banner whispered. Shocking the room into silence.

Fury snapped out of it first. "She's done what!?"

"Taken down the Other Guy."

"Where is she right now?"

"I left her in the shower a few moments ago. We were removing the paint." Thor mumbled.

Several things happened after that.

The entire hellicarrier shook as the engine right outside of the lab exploded tossing Natasha and Bruce down a level, and sending the others crashing into walls.

* * *

Agents were scrambling all over, and back in his glass cage, Loki was laughing.

* * *

Steve and Tony, once recovered, ran through the halls towards the exploded engine.

* * *

Natasha was pinned by a pipe.

Bruce was fighting off the transformation.

It failed.

He ripped into the Hulk transformation, letting out a furious roar. Before spotting Natasha and deciding on her as its target.

* * *

The roar rumbled through the room where Loki was caged.

"What. Did. You. Do?" Naruto snarled coming close to the cage.

Loki's laughing continued, "You know exactly what I've done Naruto. I've unleashed the beast."

Naruto's eyes flashed a scarlet red, and Loki took a step back. "Yes Loki. You're right that you've released the beast. You're just wrong about which one," She hissed.

She created a clone to watch Loki, who scoffed, "You know your clones are no match against me Naruto."

Those scarlet eyes turned to him, pure fury raging through them, "And you forget how long you've been gone. Eighty two years of no entertainment can lead to a lot of breakthroughs."

She vaulted out of the room, following the roars through the ship to where the Hulk was throwing Thor around like a rag doll.

"Hey!" She shouted, and in hindsight, it wasn't a good idea. Hulk had never liked her, and given how upset Bruce was with her, he'd like her even less. But she didn't let it phase her. She flew at him, knocking him away from Thor, who had just summoned Mijlnor. "Go to Loki's cell! I'll take care of him!" She yelled.

Thor nodded, taking in the scarlet eyes with a slight amount of fear. He turned to run, and the Hulk tried to take off after him, only for Naruto's fist to throw him careening backwards. His fist caught Naruto's cheek sending her flying backwards. Before shaking her shoulders and letting out a roar of her own that made the Hulk cover his ears.

Shots rang out, and Naruto saw the jet hovering just outside the window, shooting at him. Furious, Hulk leaped through the shattered glass and onto the jet with an angry roar. Naruto just turned away, she knew neither Bruce nor the Hulk would suffer any real damage. So she returned to the real threat, Loki's cage.

Her clone had dispelled itself, alerting her to the fact that Thor was now trapped inside, he'd fallen for one of Loki's illusions.

Growling low in her throat Naruto flew through the hallways before sliding to a stop in front of the open door to Loki's cage.

She saw Phil Coulson holding a gun, aimed directly at Loki. She could see confusion and anger written on Thor's face, Loki was after all, still his brother.

The Loki the agent had the weapon pointed at turned out to be just another illusion. The real Loki emerged from the shadows and stabbed the agent through the chest, causing him to gasp in pain and Thor to roar a denial. Naruto was there in the next second as Loki pulled the scepter out. She sent him such a burning look that he stuttered for a moment before walking to the computer to release the glass cage Thor was trapped in.

"Thor!" Naruto screamed, her hands were pressed against Agent Coulson's chest, the small amount of healing jutsu's she knew being used to try and keep Coulson alive.

"Breathe Coulson," She whispered, "You're going to make it through this, as long as you stay awake."

The agent nodded weakly, his eyelids fluttering.

"I mean it Agent," She growled, pumping more of the healing chakra into the dying agent. She focused on fixing, and sewing, rendering the skin back together. And ever so slowly, it was working. She could hear Phil's breathing becoming steadier.

"You're going to lose, it's in your nature." Coulson breathed out. Naruto looked up, but he wasn't speaking to her. Loki, who was still in the room, stared, and took a few steps towards the downed agent.

But a rumbling growl, and a very dark look, promising pain of unimaginable levels, stopped him from coming any further.

"Your heros are scattered, your flying fortress falls from the sky. Where is my disadvantage?" Loki asked, his voice heavy with skepticism.

"You lack conviction."

"I don't think-"

Phil pulled the trigger of the gun that was miraculously still in his hands. Naruto poked him sharply, "I know he's evil right now, but that was my husband you just shot, and I've been trying to save your life," She growled.

"Sorry," He groaned as he felt the burning of his skin knitting back together.

She hissed suddenly, and pressed her hands against his chest. "I got the vital stuff fixed, but you're going to have to see a medic still just to make sure I didn't fuck you up too bad, healing is not my forte."

Coulson laughed before coughing, "Your lackluster healing was the difference between my life and death. I think I can handle it."

Fury came over then and leaned down to look at Coulson. "You fixed him?"

Naruto plopped to the floor next to him and let out a heavy sigh. "Yea, as much as I could. He still needs to get checked out though. He'll definitely live in time to get some corrective surgery if he needs it." She laughed, "Although I've always done my best work under pressure."

"You know this will never work if they don't have something to band them together boss." Coulson groaned out.

Naruto looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"You need to tell them that I died," He sighed, "They need a reason to fight together."

Fury stared, "You're right Coulson."

"You're kidding me right?" Naruto snapped, "You're going to let everyone think you're dead!?"

"For the greater good."

Naruto hissed and stood. "Fine, be that way. Do not ask for my help in the future."

A team of medics came forward to take Coulson away and Fury discretely gave them their orders to declare Agent Coulson down.

"Agent Coulson is down." Rang out over the earpieces of those still on the hellicarrier. "The medic team is here, they called it."

Naruto backed up. "I won't be a part of this. I will not help you cover this up. You tell them whatever the fuck you want," She hissed threateningly. "When you figure out where Loki is going to strike, have Dr. Banner contact me. I will be there for the fight, after that, if I see hide or hair of you or any of your agents trying to track me down," She let her voice trail off, and her eyes bled back into the scarlet red. Her voice deepened into a terrifying pitch, "**I will slaughter them.**"

She whipped around and stalked off. Fury could feel the anger radiating from her, and saw all of his agents give the woman a wide berth.

She bumped into Tony and Steve on her way out to the flight deck.

"Naruto!" Tony called, "Is it true? Please tell me it's not true."

The blonde woman froze in place, and Tony realized just then how wrong it was to stop the woman who was clearly on a mission. Her face had been down-turned, but when she looked up, Steve and Tony both recoiled in shock. The blue eyes that read so earnestly were a furious red and her pupil was slit like an animal's.

"Get out of my way Stark," She snarled, shoving past him, only for Steve to grab her arm.

"Wait-"

"Let go of my arm right now Rogers. Or so help me, I will rip your arm from your shoulder."

Like he had been burned Steve released her. The two watched as she looked over the edge of one of many holes torn into the hellicarrier.

"I'll see you at the final battle," She finally ground out before she simply disappeared in a flash of bright yellow light.

* * *

**AN:/ A note about her brutality and OOC. She is an ancient being. She's been around for so long that she's had time to become pretty jaded. I explain it a lot better in one of the next two chapters (I can't remember which one) but hold tight, the explanation is coming. If anyone has questions, I'd love to hear about them in a review or a P.M. and I'd be happy to answer them!**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN/: Alright, so here's a sort of explanation. Again, I know the way I'm writing this is pretty rushed, but it's the only way this story is ever going to get out and be completed. I'm still only about halfway through the next chapter, which is bad of me. So after this one it may be a while before the next one comes out. I've been writing another story, and it definitely will not be posted until it's finished, because I get caught up in other ideas and I never finish my stories. So, without further ado, and with a little warning. Here's the next installation.**

* * *

**Unknown Location**

**One Hour Later**

Naruto was lying flat on her back in the middle of a circle of destruction. She'd had to let the energy out, and she was now breathing heavily, her blue-eyes watery.

Her satellite phone, which had been unsealed from one of her hidden scrolls, was laying not far from her. Waiting on the call for where Loki was, for where the final battle would be. She almost didn't think she'd need it. Eventually she would feel the energy from the ripping of a portal in the sky.

Her breathing slowed, and carefully, she pulled herself up into a sitting position, her blonde hair falling over her face. The satellite phone lit up, buzzing in the dirt.

Sending it a dark glare she reached over and lifted it to her ear after clicking the button to answer it.

"Uzumaki here."

"Naruto," Bruce's voice was almost pained, "New York."

"Understood," She looked over the destruction around her and winced, standing up. Not waiting to hear any more from Bruce she hung up the phone and flashed away.

When she reappeared, the portal had already been ripped open, Chitauri were flying overhead and blasting their lasers at civilians.

Naruto's eyes immediately flashed red and a cloak of red chakra bubbled around her. Her hands fell into her oldest technique.

"Tajiu Kage Bushin!"

Several hundred clones appeared, and she just nodded at them, they knew what she wanted. Looking around she could see Thor and Loki fighting atop Stark Tower.

Tony was flying overhead, leading one of the Leviathins towards the group of Avengers standing below. She saw Bruce easily twist into the transformation of the Hulk and growled low in her throat as he slammed the Leviathin into the ground before Tony blew it up.

Naruto chose that moment to appear, watching Loki above as he ordered the rest of the army to be sent through.

When Clint aimed an arrow at her she bared her fangs, but let the red shroud around her fall away. "I'm here to help," She growled out. Stepping closer, there was a look of distrust from Steve and she could feel the emotion rolling from Tony in his suit.

"Believe it or not. Just tell me what you want me to do."

"Call it out Cap."

"Until we can close that portal up there our priority is containment," He said, looking in the air as the sky filled with more Chitauri. "Barton, I want you on that roof. Eyes on everything, calling out patterns and taking down strays."

"Stark, you've got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out you turn it back or turn it to ash."

"Give me a lift?" Clint asked.

"Might want to clench up Legolas," Tony never did know how to be serious, but they rocketed up into the sky, Tony depositing Clint on a rooftop before taking off again.

"Thor, you gotta try and bottle neck that portal. Slow them down, you've got the lightning. Light the bastards up." Thor nodded his head, spinning his hammer before taking off into the sky.

"We'll stay on the ground," He spoke directly to Naruto and Natasha. "We'll keep the fighting here."

Naruto rolled her eyes, but nodded.

"And Hulk."

The green behemoth spun around.

"Smash."

A giant grin spread across its face. It raised a fist as if to strike Naruto. She hissed at him.

"The Chitauri!"

Hulk growled before leaping up to one of the buildings and ripping one of the Chitauri away.

Lightning screamed above them in the sky and the three looked up to see Thor driving some of the army back into the portal with his lightning.

As a group of Chitauri flew towards them Naruto reformed her favorite hand sign and a small army of clones popped into existence around her before shooting off.

Over her shoulder she shot Captain Rogers a look before leaping into the air.

"Uzumaki!"

"Yes?" A chorus of replies came from the clones fighting. One broke off, "If you have anything you need to relay to her, let any of us know and it'll get back to her."

Steve stared wide eyed. This was something way beyond him.

* * *

**Stark Tower**

Crashing just outside the penthouse after Hawkeye had shot one of his exploding arrows at him, Loki steadily climbed back onto his feet.

Only to go crashing back through the window as the Hulk tackled him.

The Hulk moved slowly, but definitely agitated towards Loki, who stood with a scream.

"Enough! All of you are beneath me! I am a _god _you dull c_reature_! And I will not be bullied by-"

The Hulk grabbed Loki by the leg and began slamming him back and forth into the ground in Tony's penthouse apartment.

Finally left grounded in a crater the beast turned muttering "Puny God."

Naruto entered just as the Hulk left, unseen. "I really wish I wasn't going to have to do this to you a second time Lok," She whispered kneeling down. Running through a several hand seals she pressed her hands to Loki's face, knocking him out and sealing away all of his magic.

One of her clones dispelled.

"There's a nuke headed our way. Stark's taking it up into the portal. Natasha is going to close it once Tony's out or we can wait no longer."

Naruto growled low and eyeballed the unconscious Asgardian at her feet. Lifting him onto her shoulders she flashed to her symbol closest to Steve.

He and Thor were surrounded by a number of Chitauri who dropped like puppets with their strings cut once Tony entered the portal. She could see Steve holding his abdomen and Thor looked worn for the first time since she'd met him. They were both staring up at the sky where Tony had disappeared with the nuke.

"Come on Stark!"

They still couldn't see anything, so Steve made the call. Pressing his hand to his ear, "Close it."

And the portal began to disappear, just as it winked out of existence, Tony's falling form was spotted.

"Well I'll be damned," Steve muttered.

"He's not slowing down!" Thor hollered, spinning his hammer to move towards Tony. The Hulk beat him to it.

They crash landed and one of them, Naruto couldn't remember who, ripped the mask from Tony's suit. He didn't seem to be breathing. The group looked over him in silent shock for a moment before the Hulk let out a furious roar.

Tony jerked up in surprise, "What the hell!?" He shouted looking around as the Hulk released another yell of celebration. "What just happened?" Tony asked in disbelief, "Please tell me nobody kissed me," He caught sight of Naruto, "Nobody but her anyways."

Steve leaned back, breathing a heavy sigh of relief. "We won," He choked out, disbelief etched onto his features.

"Alright," Tony breathed, laying his head back on the ground, "Yay, let's just not come in tomorrow guys. Just take a day. Have you ever tried Schwarma?" He asked.

Steve and Naruto let out a laugh.

"There's a schwarma joint two blocks from here, I don't know what it is, but I want to try it."

"We're not finished yet," Thor replied.

"Then schwarma after?"

Another bubble of laughter escaped Naruto. "Sure Stark."

Loki awoke, covered in dirt in the middle of a destroyed street, the weapon of essentially every Avenger was pointed at him.

He raised his hands, looking at Naruto as he felt the lack of his magic flowing though his veins.

"If it's all the same to you, I'll have that drink now."

A glare met his words.

"Or…not."

Thor hoisted the man up to his feet. Naruto took a step closer to him and heard the Hulk growl at her. She sent it a scowl, "Would you like your ass handed to you again dear? I have a perfectly destroyed mountain that I'd be happy to throw you around in."

"Are you two really going to fight now?" Tony groaned. "Can't you just kiss and make up?"

Loki and Thor both made a face at that.

"Nope," Naruto replied, popping the 'p' without looking away from the Hulk. "Bruce and I have a score to settle, so I'll flash back here once he's grown the fuck up."

Without waiting for an answer she grabbed the Hulk's arm and disappeared again.

"How the hell does she do that? I really want to do that." Tony looked at Thor and Loki, hoping for an answer.

Loki looked smug and opened his mouth but Thor beat him to it. "Her father's technique, she uses a combination of her energy and a special seal array to transport herself. It is," He paused and shivered, "Very disorienting."

* * *

**Destroyed Mountain Top**

Naruto released the Hulk who shook off the after effects of the teleportation in a matter of seconds. He roared at Naruto who stood still on the mountain top. Her eyes were clear blue and full of emotion beyond the Hulk's ability to understand.

She let the wind whip through her hair, pulling it from the braid she'd worn throughout the battle. "You want to fight big guy? Well come on then! Give me everything you've got!"

A smirk spread across the green giant's face as it lifted a fist and punched her across the valley where an entire mountain used to be. It continued like that, she never lifted her hand to him, except to dodge or keep her neck from snapping.

After throwing her around for about thirty minutes the Hulk grew bored and lifted her by the throat, growling right in her face.

"Try it," She hissed with the little air she had, "If anyone could kill me it'd be you."

The Hulk's hand tightened before dropping her to the ground and turning away. "Stupid girl."

Collapsed against the stone and rubble of their fight Naruto laughed hysterically. "Only stupid for loving you."

The Hulk had shrunk away back to Bruce, who, while disoriented, knew what had happened.

"I never thought you'd meet Loki," Naruto breathed, watching the clouds above her float peacefully by. "If I had any notion that you would, I never would have started anything with you. Or I would have at least told you about him."

"You married a monster Naruto."

"I am a monster Bruce," She laughed, "Loki was being controlled by that fucking scepter. Your smashing the shit out of him made him slip it," Naruto lifted her head up to look at him. "If anyone married a monster it was Loki."

She let her head fall back to the ground and Bruce took a step towards her.

"You know how you tried to kill yourself that one time?"

He froze.

"You're what, a little over forty? You hit that point just a little after Harlem, and just a little before we met. Imagine Bruce," Her voice cracked, filled with pain, and carrying the weight of every day, of every year she'd lived. "Imagine living that a thousand times over. I can't even begin to count the times or the ways I tried to kill myself. You have it so easy."

The clouds really did look beautiful.

"I out lived every person I ever loved. I will continue to outlive every person I love, including you, and Thor, and Loki, and Tony, and Steve, and even Natasha," she breathed and looked over at him in his tattered pants with such a heavy sadness it made Bruce ill. "Do you understand how much pain I'm in Bruce?''

He stared, took a few more steps forward. He'd known in theory, that she would outlive him, that she'd lived for nine thousand years and that her existence wasn't about to stop anytime soon. But it had never truly hit him how much it must hurt her to love someone with as feeble an existence as his.

"I…" He hit his knees next to her. Saw the tears flowing down her face, "I'm sorry."

She closed her eyes, "I never planned on falling in love with you Bruce," She whispered, "But that first day we met, you were in so much pain, and so fearful that I was going to leave you. I saw myself. I saw my best friend, and the first man I loved. It scared me, but you were the first person in so long that I was drawn to, it was selfish of me, but I couldn't let you go."

She was nearly sobbing now, and Bruce felt terrible. He pulled her up by the shoulders and hugged her tightly. "I never knew Naruto," he breathed sorrowfully in her ear, he pressed a kiss into her hair as she cried into his shoulder.

They sat like that for what felt like hours, but was really only a few minutes before Naruto pulled herself together and pulled away from Bruce.

He grabbed her face between his two large hands and rested his forehead against hers. "I love you," he whispered.

She shook her head, as much as she could with her face still held between his hands. "You turned your back on me Bruce."

"I know that, and I'm so sorry," He pressed a kiss to her cheek. "I was selfish, and sometimes I forget just how powerful you are, and how long you've lived. You've always been such a free spirit."

He pulled back a little and wiped the tears off her face with the pads of his thumbs. She stared at him for a long while before she finally sighed and leaned in close to him.

"You do realize I have to go with Thor and Loki, if only for a little while?"

Bruce hummed, "Why?"

"I sealed away all of Loki's powers. It will last, but it will damage him. And someone needs to explain to Frigga and Odin what happened to him," Her voice was soft, "I know you don't like him, but the Loki you've met is not the Loki I know."

"Can you tell me about him?"

Naruto chuckled and nodded, "Yes, would you do me a favor though?"

"Yes."

"Braid my hair? I can never seem to get it as nice as you do."

Bruce chuckled, "Ok." He kissed her lips once, chastely, before she turned away and he began threading his fingers through her hair.

"Loki when I first met him; was an arrogant ass," She began with a light laugh, "Thor was no better. I'd been staying with some Vikings then, so I was with the group they first met.

"I didn't want anything to do with either of them, but they were quite persistent. They could tell that there was something different about me. Thor was more interested in me than Loki was on the surface. However, he didn't capture my attention like Loki did.

"I was a serious prankster in my youth, and still am as you've seen. Well," She paused and Bruce could feel the smile on her face as he worked his way through the tangle that was her hair. "Loki managed to prank me. I'm still not sure exactly how he managed to do it, but he managed to fool me into beating the shit out of Thor for an imagined slight.

"We had a small war after that, and when Thor left, Loki stayed behind. He didn't get the title of 'Wordsmith' for nothing."

She paused, thinking.

"We had a great many of adventures to share with each other, so we would talk for many nights about trivial things that happened in our lives. And for the first time in such a long time, I didn't feel alone."

Bruce let his fingers slide through the blonde locks, removing the final tangle. He wrapped his arms around her for a moment while she thought before moving back to his task.

"Of course, he had to go back to Asgard eventually, and it was a decade or so before I saw him again. But when he came back he came straight to me.

"He spent an entire year here with me. I took him to my favorite places in the world. Mountaintops and hidden falls, deep caverns, and even the place that used to be my home."

Naruto chuckled, "It astounded him, he loved the beauty that was my home. I put the earth into a new light for him. And when he returned to Asgard it was only for a few weeks before he was back and asking me to marry him.

"That was the first time I went to Asgard."

Bruce nodded, focused on each strand of hair as he moved it. Of course Naruto knew that these kinds of activities kept him calm.

The woman pushed forward in her narrative with a shaky voice, "I wasn't welcome there. Odin, while old and powerful, was not as old, nor as powerful as I was. It made him incredibly nervous. I tried to make my best impressions, but there was nothing I could do to prove I was no danger to him," She sighed sadly. "I couldn't even stay on Asgard for long. Even though I'm immortal my body is still mostly human. I heal faster than I can truly die, but Asgardian atmosphere does things to me. I proved my worth as Loki's wife, and we wed on Asgard before I returned to Earth. Loki stayed for another year or two before he was called back.

"Slowly his visits became less frequent. Visitors from other realms brought me news of his trysts with others. Men and women alike," Her voice cracked. "But he was the only one I loved. I'd found a few people I came close to, a few I could have even loved, but Loki was my husband, and I hadn't found any worth betraying that bond for.

"Sometimes a century would go by, sometimes more, before I would see him. And he used his gift as a wordsmith to woo me back to him, even if he only stayed for a few weeks or even days. It would usually tide me over till his next visit.

"Sometimes, I grew so tired of wandering. So tired of waiting for Loki to seek me out, I would sleep away years. Or I would try new, creative ways of ending my existence here." She let out a shaky breath.

"I'd just woken from one of those when I found you."

Bruce hummed as he tied a final knot in her freshly braided hair.

She turned around fully and he caught all the emotion flickering in her eyes.

So he kissed her.

They tumbled in the dirt, Naruto quickly popping off her bone plated armor before Bruce began ripping at the rest of her clothes and tossing them off to the side. The tattered rags that covered his legs from the transformation fell apart as Naruto gave one swift tug.

They came together in that moment, relieving the remaining tension as their bodies moved together.

After, Bruce heard Naruto give an annoyed groan, "All that hard work on the braid gone to waste."

Bruce buried his face in the blonde's shoulder and laughed.


End file.
